The Eldridge Project

Alright, this is a Fan-Fic Kasrkin Seath and I are co-authoring, this first chapter is by Seath. After months of work, and hours of screaming in frustration at the site for eating all of our formatting, I am pleased to finally present (even though the site is still sabatoging my efforts by telling me the post is too big) The Eldridge Project.

Chapter 1

ANTIOCH PRIME, DIG SITE B-26
1500 HOURS
*****

Jeff Franz looked out over his crew of diggers. From his chair he could monitor all progress made at the dig site. While the diggers were not actually digging, and the dig site really a Forerunner ruin, he liked to think of his venture as though it had come out of a book he had read, one about the excavations in Egypt and Central America.

He looked over towards one of many screens showing different areas of interest. At one was what everyone believed to be the ‘core’ of the ruin. A large and heavy door barred entrance to the place Jeff wanted to get to most. If this were infact the power source of the Forerunner ruins on the planet then he would become both rich and famous from its discovery.

He had spent a great deal of money and a lot of secrets on securing this particular site- one of many forerunner ruins on the planet, but one he believed to be of great importance. Based on energy readings from the UNSC Department of Research and Development this ruin had a great amount of energy stemming from it, energy THEY and every corporation wanted, and would pay handsomely for.

Jeff looked back towards the door that led to his future of lavish living. ‘I hired the best damn crew on the planet, even got a smart AI to crack the security and they still have not managed to get through that damn door-‘. Jeff’s thought was interrupted as the door screeched open and the AI promptly appeared on a small pedestal in front of him.

“Dig-Master Franz, I have cracked the security systems. The door is now open.” Jeff has always admired the AI’s and their seeming unending knowledge and usefulness.

“Alright Mura, do you have any readings on what may be further into the structure?” He examined the Avatar. ‘Quite attractive for a hologram’

“Yes, infact I do. The source of the energy is half a Kilometer in. Among it are several smaller energy sources, further within the complex, including one within the vicinity of the target.” She paused, probably assessing the situation further into the complex. “Would you like to send in a forward group?” Jeff paused in though for a moment, examining the Avatar Mura had chosen. He ran his eyes up and down the Holograms features.

At first glance she appeared to be a Human being. However, now that Jeff was seeing her up close, he could point out the stark differences between her and any other Human. Her Body shape was largely human, that of a thin yet fit young woman… She wore a short dark green skirt; an odd garment of similar color which was covering, but not concealing, her cleavage; and black finger-less work gloves.

That’s where the similarities to a human being ended. Rather than having skin, she had a short but thick fur coat, all white except for the black stripes that ran along the outsides of her arms and legs and up her back. Short but sharp claws extended from her fingers and toes; her deep green eyes just as striking, appearing as though they could see into one’s soul. What struck Jeff most of all was her long white and black striped tail, which hypnotically swayed in the background.

“Like what you see?” She asked, one eyebrow raised and swinging her waist to one side, a hand on her hip.
Jeff’s trance-like study of her was broken. “They are making AI’s more and more observant I see. She let loose a smile, showing her extended canines and white teeth.

“It’s not too hard to tell, you were obviously looking my avatar over, among other things…” She stood up straight again. “Don’t worry, I’m used to it.”

“I can imagine,” Jeff said, blushing. ‘ I have to get off this topic’ “Mura, send the team in”

“Sending them in now.” She smiled at Jeff one last time before disappearing from the pedestal.

“Damn that was awkward…”

*****

‘Funny to think a Human would be attracted to me… I understand my Avatar may be very appealing to many of them, but it just seems… unnatural; not that I don’t relish the thought.’ Mura let loose one last smile before fading away from Jeff’s view.

Mura reappeared out front of PDF Sergeant Rick Bartozzi and his squad of soldiers, waiting outside the formerly sealed door. “Well, if it isn’t my fine furred holographic friend,” He grinned as he walked towards the pedestal. “So Mura, what’s the word, we going in or not?”

“He’s sending you and your team in Rick.”

Rick turned around to face his squad of five. “You hear that? Get yourselves ready were being sent in!” A few of the soldiers cheered before the entire group broke and scurried about, bumping into diggers while looking for their equipment. Rick shook his head and turned back around to face Mura. “Any idea why we’re being sent in?”

“I have detected multiple energy sources surrounding the main one.”

“Any idea what they are?” Rick said, obviously concerned over the new energy signatures.

Mura closed her eyes and put a hand to her forehead, “I’m not sure… I count one extra energy signature in there…” She reopened her eyes, revealing a concerned expression, “If that helps any.”

“Every bit of information helps…” Rick peered into Mura’s green eyes for one last moment before turning to face the assembling group of soldiers. “Listen up!” All of the soldiers stopped what they were doing and stood at attention. “I want all of you to set your safety off, Mura has detected several energy sources nearby our target. I don’t know if they are some sort of mechanism, part of what we are looking for or even just a giant light bulb, but I am not taking any chances.” He looked over his group of soldiers, scanning each one’s person, making sure they had what they needed. “Alright, Perez, take point, Delta Formation.” Perez nodded and the group went through the door, Rick close behind.

The group continued down a long corridor. Glyphs were etched into the cold metal walls, glowing with a dim blue light. Other than the group’s own footsteps, it was quiet.

“Hey sarge, what’s up with all these symbols?” Perez said, breaking the silence.

“I have no idea, just keep moving; I see a door up ahead” The group silently continued towards the door. “Miller, you have that Hacker ready?”

“Ready as ever sergeant.”

“Alright… Perez, up left; Thompson, up right by the door.” They silently moved into position along either side of the door. “Use it Miller.”

Miller approached the door, activated the hacker, and placed it. “Alright, here it goes…” The Hacker glowed intensely as it bored its way through the door with an anti-matter beam. “And…. We’re through sarge.”

“Alright, get ready.” Miller, Steven’s and Rick lined up against a wall as Perez and Thompson grabbed their half of the door. “Open it.” Perez and Thompson yanked open the door and one by one they quickly entered the next room.

As they entered they were met by a bright glow that seemed to suck the heat out of the very air. Miller walked towards it. “Yo sarge, whaddaya think it is?”

“I have no fucking idea… hold up, I’ll send the word we found it.”

Miller stopped about ten feet away from the source of the light. Something was humming. ‘Probably just the, energy… source thing’.

****
INTRUDERS DETECTED
INTRUDERS ENTERED CORE ROOM
/ACTIVATE SECURITY

SECURITY ACTIVATED

/END QUERRY
*****

‘Damn, I don’t like this place, I don’t think the forerunners would just leave this here…’ Perez thought to himself. It didn’t seem right not at all.

“ What the hel- AHHH!”

Perez wheeled around to find Miller hovering in the air, a jagged metal spike jutting through his belly. “SARGE!” All of the soldiers turned to see Miller hanging from a floating machine.

“What the Hell?” Rick aimed his weapon towards the machine, which responded by placing miller between it and them.

“Sarge, we aren’t able to get a clear shot!”

“AHHH!” Miller let out a blood-curdling scream as the spike began to separate and pull him apart.

“Damn it! Get over there and help him! Perez, keep a lookout for anything else, I’ll cover them in case this bastard tries anything!” Rick aimed his weapon towards the machine to keep it pre-occupied, while Steven’s and Thompson Rushed up to help Miller.

“Go around it, try and get behind it!” Thompson shouted to Steven’s as he ran straight for it. Thompson got up to the Machine and started to pull down on Miller’s leg, while Steven’s ran a circle around it to get a shot at it from behind.

“Damn it… Miller, quit moving around!” Thompson tried frantically to get Miller off but it was to no use. Stevens had gotten behind the machine.

“I got a clear shot!”

Rick assessed the situation for a split second. “Take it!”

Stevens let loose fifty caliber fire from his M6J Carbine, blowing off chunks of metal. However, what was bad for the machine was also bad for Miller at the point.

“AHHHHH!” Miller screamed as the two spear-like half’s pulled apart. Thompson found himself caught in a storm of blood and guts as his former comrade was pulled into two above him. Bone splintered and organs fell onto Thompson, soaking him in his comrade’s blood.

“Damn it! Everyone open fire!” As soon as the words rolled off of Rick’s tongue the remainder of the squad let loose a rain of lead, seeking revenge for their fallen. The Machine tried to defend itself and attack Thompson, who laid beneath it firing furiously, but it did so to no avail; it was shot out of the air and hit the ground with a loud thud.

“Fuck man…” Thompson was sprawled out on the cold metal floor, soaked and covered in what was formerly Miller, his head a mere inch from the fallen machine. Rick grabbed his radio microphone and turned it on.

“Mura, we’re all clear. You might want to send in a cleanup team before the diggers though… its pretty messy down here…” He turned the radio off. “Is everyone alright?” Everyone gave a nod except Thompson who was gagging and spewing his lunch all over himself and the floor.
*****

ANTIOCH PRIME, TOMBOUGH FORTRESS, ONI OUTPOST
1800 HOURS
*****

Colonel Moore sat in his padded chair, all alone in the ONI Command Center. On a large table in front of him were a series of different packets of paper. He picked one up titled PROGRESS REPORT and flipped to the front page before throwing it at the wall in disgust. He sat back in his chair. ‘Damn them all, they have more funding for this than any other project aside from the Spartan Program, they should have results by now’.

He let his head hang and he closed his eyes, ‘How the hell am I going to explain this, results were expected months ago-‘. He stopped his thought and opened his eyes as a familiar sound reached his ear. A pedestal rose up from the center of the table before a light flickered on its side. From the pedestal appeared a familiar figure.

“Mura,” Moore put is elbows on the table and leaned forward. “I thought you were sent off to assist on some dig?”

“I was,” Mura said in a slightly annoyed tone, shifting her weight to one side.

“So… what are you doing here?”

“Technically, I am everywhere, its just I am currently engaging in a conversation with y-“ Moore raised his hand signaling her to stop.

“I mean, what is your reasoning for being here?” Moore, although glad to see one of the UNSC’s best AI’s, was slightly annoyed by the way Mura was acting.

“I have some information. Apparently the dig site I was at holds an object, one of forerunner origin, I noti-“ Moore once again interrupted with the hand gesture.

“That isn’t my department Mura. I’ve got work to do so if you will leave me b-“

“No, it isn’t your department, but what they found might be of great interest to you,”
Mura said, cutting Moore’s statement short, “something that might help you complete a specific project-“

Moore immediately stood up, sending the chair flying backwards. He was now leaning forward on the table, a couple mere feet from where Mura’s Avatar stood. “What do you know about the project?” Moore spoke in a quiet, but very serious tone.

Mura leaned forward, getting as close to Moore as she could. “I only know its name,” she stood back up again in her former position,” and its problem”

Moore’s face turned beat red and he slammed a fist against the table. “ You lie! If you bother me any more I will have you banished from the netw-“

“Project Eldridge,” Mura said as the Hologram displayed several photos, which gave evidence to the project’s existence. ”…headed by Colonel Moore, Office of Naval Intelligence Research Division… oh, what’s this?” A photo appeared that depicted a very recent event- The photo showed Moore and the first page in a packet.

“How did you get these?” Moore said, a grim look on his face. He wasn’t so worried about Mura knowing, but about who could be told that the project was at a standstill because of a problem he claimed to have solved a year ago.

A smile formed on Mura’s lips. “I guess I’m just good with computers… now… as I was saying, at the dig site they discovered a certain object, one whose energy output far exceeds anything we have ever seen before.”

Moore stood up and folded his arms, looking away from Mura in disbelief. “Bah, I don’t believe it would produce enough power to solve my problems.”

“Oh, but it does… Its energy output is greater than four Exojoules-“

“How can we know that is enough?”

“Give me access to the database, I can check.” A frown formed on Moore’s face. He knew he was not given authorization to grant Mura access to the database. ‘… this may be my only chance…’ While Moore stared at Mura in though, she raised an eyebrow and gave that certain “Well?” expression. Moore quickly snapped out of his trance and typed something into a keyboard to his side.

“There, you're in, but make it fast.”

“Alright…” Mura stood, eyes closed, with one hand touching her forehead with two fingers, searching and thinking. Her eyes reopened and her hand returned to her side. “I am happy to inform you that its power output well exceeds what you need. I have already sent away the squad accompanying the dig crew, and I have made note of your, ‘methods’.”

“That’s good to know… well, you obviously went out of your way to convince me, what exactly is in this for you?” He raised an eyebrow making his inquiry.

“I want out of these mundane tasks, get them to put me somewhere more interesting.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Mura took a bow and disappeared, the holographic console lowering back into the table. Moore simply got his chair, pulled it up to the table and sat back down. He pulled out a drawer and retrieved a bottle with golden colored contents.

“What a day…” He pulled a small glass out and sat it on the table. “… but nothing a few shots cant fix.”





ANTIOCH PRIME, TOMBOUGH FORTRESS, LABS
1900 HOURS
*****

“So, doctor, how is Project Eldridge progressing?” A man in a black outfit with an eye stitched to the sleeve walked up to a man in a white lab coat.

“My team and I have made some wonderful discoveries, there is a huge wealth of knowledge in these old records… if they hadn’t have been covered up we might have been able to do so much more during the war. It’s not even possible to comprehend wha-“ The man in black cut him off with the flick of his wrist.

“I want to know how far we are from completion.” He walked closer to the man in the lab coat, almost getting in his face. “Do you think you can tell me that?” The man in the lab coat backed up in retort.

“Yeah… we… we know what we have to do to make it work, but we are lacking a large enough power source… the amount of power to make this work would be the equivalent of the entire orbital defense systems of every UNSC world that has existed combined… I can’t even imagine what we can use as a power source.”

“Lets say we have that power source… can you make it work for sure?”

“Yeah, I guess… but we haven’t made sure it is safe yet, we don’t know if activating this thing will have any side effects-“

“It’s a yes or no question.” The man in black put a hand by his hip, hovering close to a holstered Magnum, “ and if you say no you’re fired, but I’m afraid you know too much and we cant take the risk of you getting a big mouth now can we?” He grabbed his pistol and pointed it at the other man’s head.

“Y-yes, we can make it w-work.” The man in black lowered his weapon and holstered it. He began walking towards the exit, and as he neared it he stopped.

“You made the right choice. Good evening doctor.” He continued through the exit and faded from view.

Reserved.

And reserved.

We'll probably need more reserved posts...

o.O
Big FF.... I'll read it tomorrow.

lol i had a hell of a time PR this but it is definetly good no doubt about it

chewbacca in a skirt!!!!!

again very good guys its long and filled with detail and good storyline

Irregular’s

A series of short stories to keep viewers of this fan-fic entertained while the next chapter is being repeatedly written and then hacked apart.


Basic: Part One

Joe leaned back in the pelican seat. He thought it was quite comfortable, it was cool to the touch, unlike the air and ground of the hellhole of the planet called Joyous Revelation. ‘Hmphf, sounds almost like a biblical reference…’ He let his eyes wander as he thought of home. Nice, cold, home.

Joe’s eyes wandered during his daydream, sending information that the brain wasn’t receiving. They passed Mat and Bobby (who is also known as Bobert and Bob) who sat cross from them until settling on a particular marine.

‘Man, I cant wait to get out off this shit hole and back home… the snow, evergreen trees, the-‘

“Hey you there.”

Joe snapped back into reality and found his eyes already settled on the speaker.

“Hey… what the Hell are you staring at me for whiteboy?” The man was glaring at Joe, while his two friends sat where they were and watched on. “You was looking like you wanted me or something…”

“Um… no, I was just daydreaming abo-“

“Oh, I KNOW what you were dreaming about faggot-ass”

“What?-“

“You heard me!” He got up and held on to a handlebar on the ceiling as he leaned towards Joe. “Im sick of white trash faggots like you eyeing people and shit, and I knows what you was thinking…”

“I don’t think you-“

The man raised a fist as if ready to slug Joe, but instead leaned in closer to whisper. “ I ought’ta throw you off this pelican right now… but I have just one question… you like your chocolate?” The man smiled.

“What are you, gay or something?” Joe said aloud.

“What you say about me?”

“I mean, you are asking to engage in a form of sexual intercourse with another member of your gender… obviously your gay…” Bobert and Mat started to crack up.
“What yo talkin about? That wouldn’t make me g-“

“Yes, obviously it would…” Joe thanked god that no one else had heard exactly what this marine said, it worked perfectly because of that fact. “ I mean, anyone with an IQ above eighty could understand that.”

The man grabbed Joe by his white T-Shirt and pulled him closer, furious at his comment. “You know why they call me fuck-face?”

“Enlighten me.”

“I take faces like yours, and I fuck ‘em up.” Joe was released and fell back to his seat.

“Hmmm… interesting that that’s what it means, because, quite frankly, I thought it was referring to your face, which looks like it has been fucked quite a few times itself.”

The man roared and dove towards Joe, resulting in them throwing fists at each other. Mat and Bob’s smirked quickly faded as they jumped into the fight as well to support Joe.

This was, overall, a bad decision on Joe’s part and then on his friends. While they outnumbered the man three to one, he was a gargantuan of a Human, standing 6’7” and having more muscle then all of them combined. While their struggle continued, an unseen pair of eyes watched the spectacle unfold.

yea sorry about the sites formatting, Ive tried to find a way around it but haven't figured anything.

lol

Yeah! I have made pretty update!!!

BOW BEFORE IT AND IT'S GAY RED TEXT!!!

I'll have to change the color...

:Bowing: must. obey. gay. text. :Bowing:

Did someone say 'gay'?

Anyway, nice story.

'While the diggers were not actually digging, and the dig site really was a Forerunner ruin...'

Shouldn't 'was' be there. First paragraph of chapter one.

depends...

Seath's right, its a very... small version of writer's voice... kind of... Seath just to chose to phrase something in an uncommon way.